


The Only Way

by ChyDev23



Series: The Only Way [1]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, I hate tags, black bella, i needed more color
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-07 08:08:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12228936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChyDev23/pseuds/ChyDev23
Summary: "Are you fucking with me? Do you own just a lot of weird ass contacts?"Inspired by old Twilight fanfics I read that had Bella as a black girl. As a black girl myself, I wanted to try my own spin with Bella being black and the story of Twilight as a whole. I don't own Twilight or any of it's characters.





	1. Back to Forks

Sitting on a plane, tears stinging my eyes I send my mom a final text to let her know that I’d call once I had landed. When I was young, my parents divorced. Can you imagine that? My adopted parents getting a divorce?

I was a little black girl of 4 when they adopted me. As far as I was concerned, divorced or not, they were still my parents. Charlie and Renee loved me and that’s all I really needed. 

I wasn’t close to Charlie, but I wanted to not spend my life on the move as my mom’s husband was going wherever his semi pro team went. Charlie lived in this dreary town just 3 hours outside of the larger cities of Washington.

Mom wanted to move me to a place the complete opposite as soon as they got the divorce. I don’t remember much of it besides the weather and a couple of friends I had as a kid, but didn’t keep in touch with as I got older.

I asked my mom how many other black people would inhabit the town of Forks, and her answer didn’t give me much hope. “I honestly wouldn’t expect more than 3 from the last time we were there”

I wasn’t the token here in Arizona at my current high school, and I definitely had plenty of friends. I was on the soccer team, I went out to parties every once and blue moon. But now I was starting new. 

I open up the front camera on my phone to look and see if I had ruined my makeup from crying. Putting up my braids into a bun on top of my head, I wipe some of the smeared eyeliner with the sleeve of my jacket.

I take a deep breath, succumbing to the sleep and weightlessness I felt as the plane took off. 

When I hear the announcement of our landing, I turn my phone back on to make sure Charlie knows that I’ll be arriving soon.

He replies back with a curt “Okay” as I grab my carryon bag from the overhead compartment.

I put my headphones back in as I get irritated with the amount of people in the Forks airport. I liked people, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of crowded places. 

Heading to the pick up bag area, I press the call button to talk to my mom. When I tell her that I got here safely, I can hear that she is trying to hold back tears. 

I try my best to reassure her that I’m fine as I walk to the exit gate looking for Charlie. 

Both of my parents have been protective of me ever since they laid eyes on me during the adoption process. They didn’t want me to not have the same opportunities as everyone else purely because of the color of my skin.

I’ll never forget the day that my mom cussed this man out when we were in a corner store and the owner was following me around thinking I was going to steal something. As soon as she told him that I was her daughter, his eyes got big and he got paler than he already was, apologizing repeatedly while ringing up our items. 

I hang up the call as I spot Charlie looking around for me. I notice that he is standing awkwardly, looking a bit anxious. 

I see that he never got rid of that ridiculous mustache either. As I draw near, he looks my direction and gives me a small smile. I return it, and he grabs my bag.

“Glad to see ya Bells”, he calls me the nickname I’ve heard for years now. 

“So uh.. Ya hungry? We can stop by the diner. Get your favorite”, he says trying to make conversation as we head on the highway back to Forks. 

I look away from the window for a moment, shrugging. “No, that’s fine. I ate at the airport”, I respond.

The car ride doesn’t have much conversation after that. He tells me how he’s got me set up for school and that he might be out late tomorrow for work. Charlie was the chief of police in Forks, so I knew that late nights would be common. 

We pass the big cities leading up to Forks. I zip up my jacket noticing that it’s colder than I expected. Charlie notices me shiver and turns the heat up in his car. 

When we finally pass the welcome sign to town, I notice that things look pretty much the same. I can admit though, Forks was always beautiful.

I may not remember much from being here in my youth, but it was always beautiful. I take a look at the population count on the sign and groan internally. 

It wasn’t even a quarter of what the city population of where I lived with my mom in. When we pull up to the house I see that Charlie kept mainly all of it the same, probably fixed it up a little to not let it completely go to waste. 

“Home sweet home”, he says getting out. I walk inside with a bag, Charlie getting my other bags. “I see you upgraded to a flat screen”, I say pointing to the large television in the living room.

He grins slightly and nods. “Best thing to watch the games on”, he says as he motions for me to follow him upstairs. 

“Well you know you have a bathroom for yourself, I tried fixing it up for you. And here’s your room. I uh.. I wanted to make it a bit more mature with the bed spread, but if you don’t like it, can give you some money and go into the city, or around town, find some better ones”, he says as he sets my bags down beside the bed. 

It was a start. He was trying and it made me feel better. I was nervous. I nod in response. “Thanks, they aren’t too bad.”, I say sitting on the bed. 

He shifts awkwardly, looking around the room. “Well I uh, I’ll leave you too it then. You have my number, office number is on the fridge. There’s food in the fridge so help yourself. We’ll get groceries so I can get more stuff you like.”, he finishes with a small smile. 

I return it and he heads out to leave, but peaks his head back in. “It’s good to have ya here Bells”. 

And with that, I’m alone the rest of the night. I call my mom to let her know that I’m settling in. I have to prevent her from crying on the phone because she gives me the speech she gives me anytime I have left her side. 

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do anything Bella. Don’t let anyone try for a moment-a moment take away your pride and dignity. I may have not birthed you, but you are my daughter. You are black and you are brilliant”, she says sniffling. 

Normally, I didn’t tear up when she gave these speeches, but today a lot happened. I was back in Washington, with memories I barely remembered. With people I didn’t know. It was a little overwhelming to say the least. And I’d start school Monday. 

I laid in bed for an hour until I fell asleep after getting off the phone with her, and then wake up to rearrange my room, putting up some of afrocentric posters, favorite musicians and band posters. 

Once I’m done, I look at the clock and see that it’s going on 8, so I head downstairs to make myself something to eat. I take the spaghetti noodles, red sauce, and meatballs and whip up dinner.

I figure that Charlie never really cooks. So cooking up this meal isn’t too bad. And the idea of cooking more often for the two of us doesn’t bother me too badly. 

I find some tupperware and put the rest in the fridge for Charlie, putting a sticky note on the fridge handle so he knows whenever he gets home. 

I head upstairs to wash my face after I finish cleaning the dishes and eating. My body sinks into my sheets as I let my mind decompress from the past 24 hours of travel and realization that this little brown girl would be readjusting to being back in Forks. 


	2. All Grown Up

The next day I go into town with Charlie to get school supplies. They had recently built a Target and everyone lost their shit. Then again, it was one of the 3 stores in town that wasn’t personally owned by someone, not surprising. 

When we get there, we end up taking forever as I forget that Forks is so damn small that everyone knows everyone. So we end up stopping every 5 minutes because people want to say hello to Charlie. And then they end up looking at me, confused and he has to explain that I’m his daughter. 

Which didn’t bother me so much. Not until I realized that we were being followed in the store.

It was a white guy, no older than 40. I round the corner of the aisle getting various pens and highlighters, quickly enough to lose him. Charlie was on the other aisle picking out my binders and papers. But then the guy comes up to me and asks if I need help. 

“Oh, uh no I’m fine”, I give him a tentative smile. He looks at me up and down. 

“Ma’am, I need you to turn out your pockets”, he says getting closer to me. 

I look at him baffled.

“Excuse me?”, I say backing away, but not before he grabs my arm. 

Just as he grabs me, Charlie comes back around the corner, dropping the supplies and gets in the man's face. 

“Why the hell are you touching my daughter?”, the guy looks shocked and starts stuttering. 

“I-I didn’t know she was y-your daughter Chief Swan, I-I’m sorry”, Charlie pushes him away from me. 

“Yeah well now you know, and I’ll be telling your manager about your god damn racial profiling”, the man shakes his head. 

“No, no I’m sorry I-”, he stammers. Charlie smirks and picks up the supplies. He looks back at me. “You okay Bella?”, I nod, putting a braid behind my back. 

We leave the store after buying my supplies and talking to the manager. When we get back in the car, Charlie sighs and then looks at me. 

“I know I don’t say this enough, but I love you. And I’m sorry that something ignorant like that even happened”, I bite my lip, feeling like I might tear up again. 

“I really appreciate that. I guess I kind of expected it to happen sooner or later”, I say looking down at my hands as we pull off. 

“Yeah well it shouldn’t happen at all. “, I stay silent after he says this, listening to the radio as we make our way back home. 

When we get home, there’s a truck pulled up to the driveway and another on the side of the road. 

“Well your surprise is here”, Charlie says smirking. I look at him confused. 

We pull up and get out, Charlie excitedly greets the man in the wheelchair and the young man standing beside him.

I take a double look at the young man because he is absolutely hot. For a place that never got sunshine, he had a wonderful tan and beautiful skin. Long dark hair, just like the man in the wheelchair, who I assumed was his father. He was just slightly taller than me, not a lot of muscle, but his build was my type. 

“Bells, I’m sure you remember Billy Black and his son Jacob”, Billy gives me a warm smile and I return it. 

“Yeah, I think I do. We use to play in mud together as kids right?”, I gesture towards Jacob and he chuckles, moving his long black hair behind his ears. 

“That was me”, his smile is bright and I feel myself swooning. Guys in Arizona didn’t smile this bright. 

Jacob and his dad both lived out on the Native American reservation about an hour away from Forks. I vaguely remembered playing with him on Saturday’s and getting in trouble with my mom for getting mud in the house. And sadly, he wouldn’t be going to the same school as me. I was bummed to say the least. 

Charlie wheels Billy into the house to show him the flatscreen, as Jacob shows me my new truck. 

“Well she’s old, but she runs. I fixed her up myself”, he says rubbing the hood. I look at him with my jaw dropped.    
“You did this? That’s so-thank you, really”, I say trying to find the right words. He was gorgeous and he knew his way around cars. 

“It’s no problem at all, when your dad asked me to, I hopped right on it. Want me to show you how she turns on?”, he grabs the handle to the driver's seat door. 

“Hell yeah”, I proclaim and he opens the door and closes it once I’m in. He gets in on the other side and hands me the keys. 

“Okay you are gonna wanna put it in the ignition and then turn your wheel like this”, he holds my hands in his, showing me.

I would be lying if I said I was too busy catching glimpses of his face. He was a year younger than me, but he was cute for his age. And then I catch him staring at me too. 

We both smile, embarrassed that we got caught. After he shows me the ins and outs of my truck, Billy and Charlie come back out. Before they leave, me and Jacob exchange numbers. 

We say our goodbyes and head inside. “Jake’s grown up huh?”, Charlie says with a mischievous smile. I punch him in the arm and am met with a chuckle. I shake my head and head upstairs as Charlie heads off to work. 

I look through my closet of what to wear to school tomorrow. First day, maybe make a good impression. I mean I doubt there are many other black kids so I’d be another token for some group of white kids that wanted to feel comfortable listening to rap music with me around. 

But I still wanted to look cute no matter what. Whether I made friends or not, I’d make the most out of my junior year here.

I pick out my outfit, being content with a burgundy blouse, black skirt that tended to cling to my ass and thighs. I’d wear tights underneath and bring a jacket if the rain didn’t let up. It was fall after all. The only season I made an effort to look good in. 

I took a quick shower, put on my pajamas and then started to take out my braids. I’d let my natural hair make an appearance tomorrow. After I combed out my hair, I washed it, removing the shower head and leaning over the tub to rinse out the shampoo and conditioner. 

Once I was done moisturizing my hair and taking care of my curls, I put my bonnet on and settle in bed, falling asleep feeling confident about my first day tomorrow.


	3. Super Model Siblings

When I pull up to Forks High, I realize that I’m the oddball out with this old ass truck, that I still needed to make a nickname for. It was old, red, a little rusty, but had character. No radio or aux cord so I couldn’t play my own music from the stereo. I’d ask Jacob if he could hook me up with one sometime soon. 

But there were so many cars. Which meant there were so many eyes on my truck. And on me.

I stepped out of my truck, grabbing my bag and putting it on my back. I text Charlie that I made it safely and on time, noticing that people are watching me, whispering. I knew that they were looking at me because I was new, but also because I’m sure word was spreading that I was Charlie’s little black adopted daughter. 

The town was white and full of white kids. I wasn’t surprised. I did see one black guy, he was cute, he smiled my way as I made my way to the front entrance. I stopped to look at the school map, trying to figure out where the front office was to pick up my schedule. Before I can spot it, a guy walks up to me. 

“Hey! You must be Isabella? I’m Eric, the eyes and ears of this place. I write for the school newspaper, welcome to Forks High.”, his smile is genuine, but a little eager. Jet black hair, a little lanky, a cute Asian guy.  

“Hi, it’s Bella. And do you know where the front office is?”, I return his smile with my own. He was being nice, I had no reason to distrust him yet. 

“Yeah, yeah follow me”, he guides me to the front office and we make small talk as we head there. He offers to walk me to my first class once I get my schedule.

It was English, a class I had already taken and passed with flying colors, but I didn’t mind. It was my best subject so it would be a cake walk. 

My next class was calculus. I hated math, but I knew how to do it. The hour passed by and I was getting more comfortable as people helped me and weren’t being snooty assholes. 

I went to my locker before gym and got my clothes to change in. I gave a sigh of relief to know we’d be inside instead of outside today, and probably most of the week. Even more relieved to know we’d be playing volleyball. It was one of my favorite sports. 

I set up to spike the ball and accidentally hit the girl on the other side on her boob. 

“Oh fuck, I mean I’m sorry”, she shakes her head giving me a tentative smile. 

“No it’s totally cool. You are Bella right? I’m Jessica”, she has a pretty smile, brown hair, olive skin. She’s pretty chill for the most part, as we talk on the sideline, a guy comes up to us. 

“Hey Jess, I didn’t know you knew Forks High latest inhabitant”, Jessica blushes. So she clearly digs him, but he’s too busy making googly eyes at me. White guy, button nose, blue eyes.

He’s cute, just not my type if he’s this oblivious to Jessica. And I just got here so I wasn’t going to jump on anything that moved. 

“Yeah, this is Bella, Bella this is Mike”, she says noticing him looking at me. 

Gym passes without a hitch. Mike ends up walking me to lunch and I sit with Jessica and him. Eric joins us, no surprise he is friends with them. I meet Angela, she seems to be the quietest of this rag group and I feel the most comfortable talking with her. She has kind eyes and honestly is mainly focused on school. The one thing I like about her is the fact that she doesn’t make me feel like I’m just the new girl. 

The last person I meet in their group of friends is Tyler. He was the cute black guy who smiled at me this morning. I guess I wouldn’t be the token of the group after all. And to be fair, I saw at least 6 other black kids here. I guess that was better than just me. 

He asks everyone if they are going to the beach this weekend. He asks me specifically after I don’t say anything, eating my lunch. 

“Oh uh, I’ll pass?”, I say indifferently. Mike looks devastated by my answer, Jessica looks between the two of us, clearly wanting Mike’s attention. Angela is working on homework. That’s when something catches the corner of my eye. 

The palest, but yet super model like teenagers I had ever seen walk into the cafeteria. It was like all of the people in here shut up instantly and just stared at them. I was always told it was impolite, but this time I could understand. 

“Those are the Cullens. They are all foster kids of Dr. Cullen and his wife, super rich, they tend to keep to themselves. The one smiling like she can see fairies is Alice, her and Jasper, the one that looks uncomfortable are dating. Then that burly guy is Emmett, him and the super model Rosalie are dating. I mean they aren’t related, but it’s still a little weird”, she says gossiping. 

Obviously they were a part of some super secret diet and face care regimen because they looked flawless. It was so weird. I watched as they all sat together. And then he walked in. 

“Who’s he?”, I asked Jessica. 

“Oh, that’s Edward. He has some pretty high standards in women because he doesn’t date anyone that goes here”, she rolls her eyes. I try not to laugh at this. Someone got rejected. 

I look at him, and am surprised that he is looking back at me, with a slight smirk. Impeccably coiffed brown hair, strong jawline, dark eyes, they looked almost black from over here.

I turn away quickly, not trying to be rude. I couldn’t just yell since he was on the other side of the cafeteria. But he was unbelievably attractive, and he had to have known that he was as well. 

I get escorted to my last class by Eric. Which starts with slight irritation because Mike waves his wet hat at me, since it’s raining outside and asks me if I’m enjoying the rain. He even calls me god damn Arizona? What kind of shit. 

I introduce myself to the teacher and he seems pretty chill for a biology teacher. I’m happy when I pass by a fan that’s sitting in the front of class as even though it’s raining out, I still build up a little sweat. But then I notice who I have to sit by. 

That Edward guy. He looked like he had to take a shit. When I sit down, I look at him and see that he scoots over to his seat closer to the window. The hell is his problem? I shrug and half assed pay attention to the lesson even though I had already learned this at my previous school. But it’s hard to pay attention with him staring at me with an odd, frustrated, yet disgusted look for most of the hour. I didn’t want to say anything and make enemies on my first day, but he was making me feel so damn uncomfortable. 

As soon as the bell rings, Edward is out of the class before anyone else. I decide to go to the front office to look at any extracurricular activities and see that Edward is in there. 

“No, I need to be in a different class, there’s gotta be another science class I can take?”, he says very aggressively. 

The woman at the front desk shakes her head and apologizes. He realizes I’m there and sighs.

“I guess I’ll just have to deal with it then”, he says before he storms off, not meeting my eyes. 

I felt my irritation build. I’d done nothing wrong to him. So what was his deal?


	4. Your Fucking Hand

I don’t see the Cullen family for a week. Jess tells me that they leave town whenever there is good weather and go hiking or something. I shrug and just reason it to them having enough money to all skip an entire week of school. 

But then on the following Thursday, I see none other than Mr. Cullen himself sitting in the seat I sit next to. I confidently stride over and sit down. He looks at me, his eyes are a golden brown. What the actual fuck?

He must have seen the look on my face as he gives me a dazzling smile. “Hello, I’m Edward Cullen, you must be Bella Swan”, I was weirded the fuck out because the first time we met, he didn’t talk to me, didn’t look at me with this sort of sincerity. Hell, I’m pretty sure the fucker scowled at me at one point that day. 

The crazy part is that we kind of hit it off. He asks me about my mom, why I’m here. When the bell rings though, he waits for me and walks with me to my locker still making small talk. 

“So what’s up with your eyes? They were like black as hell the last time I saw you”, a look of concern comes across his face as I open up my locker to get stuff I need before I head home. 

He starts backing away. “Uhh, it’s the fluorescents”, he walks away with a determination. 

I yell after him in utter confusion. “ Are you fucking with me? Do you own just a lot of weird ass contacts?”. I scoff when he rounds the corner and I don’t see him once I’m in the parking lot. 

The next day in the cafeteria, while waiting in line to get food, Edward slides up beside me. “So do you not like the beach?”, he asks me out of the blue. I look at him confused. 

“Your friends want to hang with you at the beach, why aren’t you going?”, he asks again, smile now plastered on his face as if he knows something I don’t. 

“I am not the biggest beach person, I end up just sitting in a chair, enjoying the view”, I say picking up an apple, but it falls out of my hands. 

The craziest shit happens next as Edward flicks it back up to his hands with his foot, the apple never hitting the ground. He hands me it. 

“Well why not just do that? Enjoy yourself for the weekend ya know”, he seems to ignore the disbelief on my face. He must be an athlete with these muscles and reflexes that only fucking cats have. 

“You should come too”, I say wanting to know more about this mysterious white guy that was interested in me all of a sudden. I wasn’t complaining though. He was gorgeous, but I wasn’t going to jump into anything. I had only been here for two weeks, I wasn’t that kind of girl. 

“Well what beach?”, he asks following me down the line as I pick up more food. 

“Uh I think it’s La Push?”, he frowns. 

“I don’t like that beach”, he says matter of factly. 

“Why not?”, he grins at me. 

“It’s too crowded over there”, and with that, he leaves me be.

When I get to the table with my friends, they are all staring at me wide eyed. 

“Oh please spill, Edward is totally digging you”, Angela says nudging me gently. Jessica looks shocked but chimes in. 

“Yeah, what did he want? Did you invite him to the beach this weekend?”, I shake my head and explain to them that he isn’t coming. I dismiss their claims that he’s into me, and Mike nods his head in agreement. 

“Bella is clearly out of his league so why would she waste his time?”, he winks at me and I snort. 

The weekend comes and we all hop in Tyler’s van. La Push was beautiful. There wasn’t much sun, and it was rather gloomy out, but it was still a sight for sore eyes. 

Just as everyone is getting their wet suits on, I spot Jacob walk up with some of his friends. 

“Well, well, well, welcome to my side of town Bella”, he says with the same brilliant smile. He pulls me into a tight hug. I enjoy the embrace.

He introduces me to his friends. Eric pulls up and greets everyone. “Did Edward decide to not tag along Bella?”, Jacob’s friends and him laugh. I raise an eyebrow at Jake, just as I respond to Eric. 

“No, he isn’t”, I say still giving Jake a look of confusion. 

“The Cullens don’t come around here”, he says and it’s almost like it has a cryptic message. Everyone disperses after that, but me and Jacob end up walking along the beach catching up. After we are done catching up, I ask him what he meant about his comment. 

“You know those old ghost stories people tell? Well let’s just say that-”, he goes into a story of Cold Ones and the descendants of his family’s tribe having a long standing rivalry. He goes as far as implying that the Cullens are the Cold Ones. 

“But it’s just some crazy story my dad and other elders in the tribe talk about”, he chuckles. I return the chuckle, even though it’s slightly forced because it’s such a spot on description of the Cullen siblings.

But then again, I’m just naturally superstitious about shit and look up Native American myths and stories once I get home. After finishing up my homework, I find a book with other stories involving the cold ones, but it was only available in Port Angeles in a random bookstore. I guess my curiosity got me nowhere. 

When I fall asleep though, I have an odd dream. All of the Cullen siblings, running around in the forests of Forks. I didn’t understand why I was having dreams of white people flying around the forest other than Jake being good at telling stories. 

Biology comes the following Monday and Edward isn’t there. But then as I leave school, heading for my car, I notice he’s in the parking lot with his siblings. I struggle to find my car keys, and then hear tire skids. I’m not religious at all, but I pray for my life as Tyler’s van skids in my direction, I close my eyes, telling Charlie I love him in my mind. 

But then I hear a crunch, when I open my eyes, Edward’s golden ones meet mine, his hand creating a dent in Tyler’s van. I stare at him in disbelief. I hear everyone saying my name in concern, Edward hops over my truck before they get to me. Tyler eventually leans over and apologizes. 

When I get to the hospital, Charlie is there immediately. He threatens Tyler who is sitting in the next bed over from me. 

“You okay?”, he asks looking at me up and down for any injuries. 

“Yeah I’m fine dad”, I say trying to reassure him. Just then a very attractive blonde haired doctor comes in and greets me.  

“Ahh Chief Swan, hope you are well”, Charlie gives him a curt nod. “Dr. Cullen”, he says in short. He looks in my direction pulling out a small flashlight. 

“I see that you were in an accident Bella, how are you feeling?”, he gives me a warm smile. I notice his eyes are the same golden as Edwards. Did they all just wear weird ass contacts?

“I heard your boy saved her, give him my thanks”, Charlie says wholeheartedly. A look flashes on Dr. Cullen’s face for a millisecond, but then he goes back to his charming smile. 

“Well your vitals are fine. You are free to go. You are very lucky Bella”, he says and shakes Charlie’s hand before he leaves. I get up, putting my jacket back on. Charlie says he’ll be a second and walks up to Tyler. 

I wait outside, but then I see Edward in an argument with his sister. And then they notice me. She stalks off, fairly angrily as he walks up to. 

“So are you gonna explain how the hell you got to me in time?”, he looks at me with confusion. 

“Are you sure my dad checked you out okay?”, I scoff at his admission. 

“I’m fine, I mean thanks to you, but still. Don’t avoid my damn question. You were on the other side of the parking lot and then your HAND, your fucking hand just stops a moving van, explain”, he gives me a smug smirk before backing away slowly from me. 

“You might want to get your head checked again Bella. You should stay away from me”, I throw my hands up at this and watch in disbelief as he walks away. Well I knew I wasn’t crazy. And I felt fine. A little shaken up from almost dying. But it’s the fact he told me to stay away from him. 

For someone who seemed 10 steps ahead in Biology, he wasn’t very smart. We went to the same school, had the same lunch hour and Biology. How exactly would I stay away from him?

I convince Charlie that I’m fine to head to school the next couple of days. Our Biology class gathers in the parking lot to load onto buses for a field trip. Edward is glaring at me from across the parking lot, standing next to one of the buses. 

My view is then obstructed by Mike, smiling like a goof. “Hey, so I was just wondering if you’d wanna go, I mean it’s in like a month, a month away but it could-”, I start to tune Mike out as I notice that Edward’s gotten closer, and with a devilish grin on his face. I mouth ‘what’ to him, Mike not even noticing. 

“So what do you think? Wanna go, with me?”, I look back up at him. 

“I’m sorry?”, I say genuinely. “Oh, just prom, wanna go?”, he says again nervously. 

“Right, prom. I’m not much of a dancer. But I have plans, going to Florida. You should ask Jess though.”, his face looks disappointed. Before he can respond, our Biology teacher tells us that it’s time to go. 

We get to the greenhouse, split up in groups. I take in all of the plants and whatever my teacher is going on about. But then I feel a cool breeze come up behind me. 

“What’s in Florida?”, Edward looks at me concerned. 

“Hello to you too”, I say confused. “You didn’t answer my question”, he says matter of factly. 

We continue walking down the greenhouse. “Fine, you answer mine. How did you stop the van?”, he smirks. “It was an adrenaline rush, now what’s in Florida?”, he looks at me slowly as if thinking carefully. 

“My mom, and how do you know I’m going to Florida? You weren’t close enough to hear my conversation”, before he can answer, Jess comes up to me, excited that Mike asked her to prom. 

I share my excitement with her. That’s one less guy sniffing for my affection. I was a hot commodity, the new girl, but jeesh. Anything with legs that hadn’t turned these guys down was a target. 

When we reach the end of our field trip, and I’m walking to get on my bus, Edward stops me. 

“Bella, hey, we shouldn’t be friends”, he says with anguish in his eyes. 

“Wow okay, so what was the point of saving me?”, I feel my frustration build. This hot and cold was getting old. 

“I’m dangerous, you don’t want to be around me.”, he gets closer to me, I feel a slight chill run down me. 

“Well then I won’t be around you. You’ve got issues to work out apparently”, I say just as Jess comes up to us asking Edward if he’d be riding with us. He says no rather aggressively and gets on his own bus with his siblings right behind him. 

Jessica tries to pry our conversation out of me, but I keep it to myself.

The next day at school, during lunch, Edward doesn’t look my way. For some reason it was starting to bother me. His overall disposition. The weird eyes. How pale he was. I needed to know what was going on with him. 

“So Bella do you want to come with us to go dress shopping for prom? We are going out of town to Port Angeles”, when I hear that Jessica and Angela are going to Port Angeles, I spring to light and agree to go with them. I was gonna find that damn book. I didn’t know what answers I was looking for, but I was going to find something.


	5. It's Not Okay to Stalk People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the feedback so far! I'm having fun writing this, and I'm glad people are having fun reading it. I might do the whole series of books. When I say might, I am as soon as the last two chapters of this series is done, I'll work on a reworking of New Moon. I think that will be interesting. Again, feedback keeps me alive! Thanks once again. xoxo-chyna

Days pass by and we finally make our way to a dress shop in Port Angeles. I loved a lot of the dress, some being more form fitting than others.

I made sure Angela found the right dress for her because she was far more shy than Jessica or me. I found myself talking to her more than Jessica at school and outside of school. 

Nothing against Jess, but she was always trying too hard. I wanted her to just be herself. But that would have to be a conversation later down the road, I didn’t want to lose a friend. 

I tell them I want to check out a bookstore in town, as I was done with dress shopping. They both looked confused, but said they would meet me for dinner later. 

The bookstore was only a 20 minute walk away. When I get there, the store clerk greets me and asks if I need help looking for anything. I figure that since it was such a specific book, I’d ask him if they had it. 

He leads me to an aisle and picks out the book. I spend a couple of moments reading it. I take a couple of snapshots of a couple of pages. 

_ Cold Ones. Nightwalkers. Lust for blood. Strength. Vampires _ . Was the guy that I was strangely interested in, a damn vampire? Was this a movie? Was I being punked? I feel nauseous as I think back on his eyes, the van accident, telling me that we can’t be friends. I felt colder when he was around. Could it just be some odd coincidence?

As I walk out of the store, my mind is racing. I realize that it’s gotten dark, and I look down at my phone to see that I have no signal. Fuck. It was how I got to the store in the first place. 

It takes me 10 minutes to realize that I had been walking in the wrong direction. I stop and try my phone again, but to no avail. It was dying anyways. 

The hair on the back of my neck stood up though as I saw a man turn the corner, the same corner I had turned. He might be a local, but my senses are telling me otherwise. White older man, black teen. This wasn’t spelling okay for me so I take my phone back out and pretend to be on the phone, walking down the street. 

I feel a slight relief to see a small group of men just down the street, headed my way. But that relief turned into fear as I got close enough to see the sinister grins on their faces. I try to look as normal as possibly, crossing the street. 

I figure that I can lose them if I make it through this alleyway and turn on another street in time. The alleyway is longer than expected though, and my worst fears are coming to life when a car with the same guys pulls up. They get out, there are 5 of them, all coming to surround me. 

I take a deep breath. Alright, I could at least kick one or two, I have my pepper spray on my keychain in my back pocket. Could do a sweeping spray. My train of thought is ruined when one of them whistles and another speaks. 

“Well well, got ourselves a chocolate beauty”, the first man says. One licks his lips. Another one behind me speaks up. 

“I’ve never had a black girl before, but I guess tonight is our lucky ni-”, just as he gets close enough, I swing my leg back and then forward into his crotch. 

They begin to get closer to me as the guy crumples to the ground. I go for another kick, but one of them catches my leg. I attempt to take out my keychain and pepper spray, struggling at the same time from their grasp. 

I hear a car pull up and feel dread fall over me, tonight was my last night on earth. Social media would lose their minds.

I could see the hashtag on Twitter with my name. Another black girl killed. At least I didn’t go down without a fight. But then I feel them drop me. 

I wince as I land. They all run off into their car. And then I see him. Edward. He looks at me with a fury in his eyes. 

“We need to get you in the car, now”, I get up and quickly get into his car. He is in the driver’s seat before I know it. It’s like I blinked and he was there. 

Before I can even speak, we are speeding down the road. I look at him and his tight, angry expression hasn’t changed. 

“They had no right, and their thoughts, those dirty cretins deserve- they are lucky that I don’t just turn around and-”, I look at him confused. 

“And do what? There was 5 of them. No offense, Edward but you couldn’t take on 5 guys all at once unless you secretly take krav maga or fucking mixed martial arts since you were a fetus”, he chuckles, but it isn’t the warm, crisp chuckle I’m used to. It’s harsh. 

“You have no idea what I’m capable of Bella and you shouldn’t have gone out alone”, taken aback, I shoot him a dirty look. 

“I went out alone to get some answers, answers for how fucking strange you act and look sometimes.Answers you don’t give me”, I see him start to calm down. 

He doesn’t say anything and I see that he’s taking me back in the direction of the dress shop. How the hell did he know where I was? Did he somehow put a tracking device on me? Was he stalking me?

I get distracted by how cold it is, a shiver making me shake a little. He notices and reaches for the heat just as I do. Our fingers brush each other’s and he quickly retracts his. I feel annoyed, butterflies, and confused all at the same time. 

Annoyed because once again, he was acting strange. Butterflies because that smallest of touches gave me butterflies and confused because I barely knew Edward, but something about him made me draw closer to him even though he kept telling me we shouldn’t be friends. But the fact that his hand had been unusually cold make me feel even more confused. 

We pull up to a restaurant, and just as we walk up, Jessica and Angela see us. 

“Well if you wanted to ditch us to meet Edward, you could have at least answered our calls”, Jess says looking annoyed until Edward flashes his signature smile. 

“Please don’t be upset with Bella, it was my fault. I ran into her and we spent time together and got caught up hanging out”, Angela seems to take the bait quicker than Jess and tells us that they already ate. 

Edward suggests that he can take me home, once I’ve eaten. Angela gives me a look that essentially says to tell her everything later. 

I sit down at a table, and he sits across from me. We both get waters. Our waitress comes and I tell her that I’ll take the salisbury steak with broccoli.

Edward doesn’t get anything, though this waitress lingers, trying to convince him. He keeps his eyes on me, dismissing her.

She takes note of this and leaves us alone while my food is being prepared. 

“I’ll make a deal with you. Eat some of your food, drink some of your water, and I’ll answer some of your questions. At least 5”, he gives me a look of concern. 

I fold my answers, leaning back into my chair. I guess I could use some energy and comfort food with how tonight went. 

What was I going to tell Charlie? Oh hey dad, I separated from my friends, nearly got raped and/or killed. Don’t worry though, Edward saved the day again. 

We sit in a comfortable silence until my food arrives. I take a couple of bites, and then sip my water. I look up at Edward who seems to be deep in thought looking at me. 

“So did anyone tell you it’s not okay to stalk people? How did you know where I was?”, I ask him as calmly and quietly as I can.  

He sits up and leans over to me.

“I can read minds, I sort of guessed, because I could hear their thoughts. I heard through Jessica’s thoughts, and then when you left to find a book, I figured it wasn’t that far and I heard those scumbags racist thoughts and I... “ He trails off clearly controlling his anger again. 

“Okay well thank you for saving me. But you aren’t off the hook yet. So are you teenage superhero? Going around saving little black girls? What are your superpowers?”, I say it sarcastically, but in my heart I’m dead ass serious. 

I wasn’t ready to accept that he might be.. A vampire. 

But I wanted him to say it. I wanted to tell me something. He had saved my life twice, been in the right place twice. That was no coincidence unless there was something more to him. 

“No, only you. You aren’t little, and you being black has nothing to do with me saving you, Bella.  I don’t have superpowers like a comic book”, I take another bite as he looks from me to my plate. 

“Okay then humor me, what is it I’m thinking about?”, he smirks as I speak through bites of food. 

I think of one thing. I had never noticed how pink his lips were. He shakes his head, smiling. 

“That’s the thing. I can read everyone’s minds, people in here, everyone, except yours”, I take a slight offense to this. He must notice the look on my face. 

“There is nothing wrong with you, I just can’t read your mind. Trust me, I’ve tried since the moment I saw you”, I snort at this. He was frustrated with not being able to read my mind in Biology that one day. 

We finish up talking and I feel like I’ve gotten more answers. He pays, insisting even though I had already put my card on. 

On the way back to Forks, we almost drive past the police department, but Edward notices that his father’s car is there with several other police cars with their lights on. We pull up and just as we do, Dr. Cullen comes out. 

“Carlisle what’s going on?” Edward says with worry.

“Waylon Forge was found in dead in his place”. I ask how in disbelief. 

“Animal attack”, he sighs and looks at me. 

“Waylon was your dad’s best friend”. Well shit. I hurry inside looking for my dad. When I spot him, he is sitting at his desk. I hug him from behind and he pats my arm. 

“I’d ask how you are doing, but I feel like I already know”, he gives me a faint smile.

“I knew him for 30 years…. But.. don’t worry about me. We are gonna find whatever did it”, I nod my head. 

“But until then, take this”, he takes out a small pocket knife.

“Just..it gives me some peace of mind. I know you’ve got your pepper spray, but I just want you to be protected if I’m not around”, I take the knife and put it away. 

We head outside, and they are pulling Waylon’s body into the ambulance. When I see it, I feel my gut wrench, thinking about this past month.

Jacob’s story about the Cullens. Edward’s abilities. His eyes changing from black to shades of golden. Him and his family disappearing every time the sun is out for days on end. So when I get home, I get onto my laptop and look up anything I can. 

More stories of Cold Ones, and various other names for vampires. In different countries. My heart races. I needed to hear him say it. I needed the truth from him. If my ass died tomorrow, at least I’d know vampires really existed.


	6. Who The Fuck Sparkles?

The next morning, at the end of the school day, I wait outside to see him. When I do, we make eye contact. He nods as if to gesture to follow him. I make the stupid decision of doing so. This is why black people died in movies first. 

Once we get to a dense part, it’s quiet and he says nothing. 

“So are you going to tell me what you are finally? Because I am tired of this game.”, he smirks at this, but still silent. 

I start to get frustrated. “Look, I’ve never seen you in sunlight, you move fast as shit. You can hear people’s thoughts. I have never seen you actually take a bite of food even though you sit in the cafeteria with an entire tray of food. You are unbelievably cold and you sure as hell don’t have anemia. What are you?”, when I finish, he has managed to get closer to me. 

In almost a whisper, “I want to hear you say it”, I scoff at him.

“Fine, you are a fucking vampire, happy?” 

“Are you afraid of me?”, he asks slowly. “Uhh no, seeing as I was stupid enough to be here, alone, with you. No”

His face gets serious, leaning into mine. “Then ask the most basic question, what do we eat?”, I cock my head to side. “If you are implying that you are about to kill me, trust and believe that Charlie would find you. People saw us walk up here”, he shakes his head. 

“I’m going to show you what I look like in the sunlight”, he grabs my arm and then puts me with lightning speed up on his back. We blur up the mountain, I see nothing but green and brown roll past me. 

He sets me down and unbuttons his shirt, walking up to the sunlight. When he reaches it. His skin begins to sparkle, as if made of diamonds. From his face to his abs, god his abs. Everything glowed. 

“This is the skin of a killer, Bella”, he says with disgust in his voice. “Okay, but who the fuck sparkles?”, I say blinking my eyes in confusion. “I’m a killer, and if we went out into the sunlight, people would know”, he ducks down into a nearby tree, I follow watching him button his shirt back up. 

“Soooo?”, I say trying to piece this all together. “I’m the world’s most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. From my face, to my voice, even my smell”, I cut him off. 

“What like cologne?”, he scoffs and continues. He speeds over to another tree and yells. He moves like a flash. “As if you could outrun me!”, I shake my head agreeing. 

He is in a blur of movements again, and ends up back behind me. “As if you could fight me off”, he pulls a very thick root from a tree and throws it with his supernatural strength. I feel my hands getting clammy. I needed for him to calm down. 

“I’m designed to kill, Bella.”, he looks at me with pleading eyes. I sigh, knowing my next words are going to be stupid. 

“I don’t care. I mean, I do, I don’t wanna die, but I don’t think you are trying to kill me. You clearly could have done that weeks ago”, I say stepping closer to him. He looks at me determined now, sadness behind his eyes still. “I’ve killed people before”, he says clenching his jaw. 

“I wanted to kill you. I have never wanted a human’s blood so much in my life”, he gets closer to me, his eyes never leaving mine. Was he about to do what I think he was about to do? Was I gonna become a literal snack?

“I trust you to make the right choice here”, I stutter out, his body drawing closer to mine. “Don’t”, he says with a venom. His hand reaches to caress my face. Maybe he was calming down. Maybe I could help him just chill out with his doom and gloom attitude. 

“Okay well I’m here for you, just chill-” as I say this, I step closer to him, but he whooshes away. “I can’t keep up, I’m a human damn it!”, I yell after him. I hear him land on a branch above me and turn around. 

“See, my family is, we’re different from others of our kind. We only hunt animals, we learned to control our thirst. But somehow, you, your scent”, he leans down from the branch effortlessly. “Your scent, it’s like a drug to me”, I squint my eyes at this. 

“That sounds really weird, but okay. It sort of explains how you’ve treated me in the past then”, I say scratching my head. “You’re like my own personal brand of heroin”, I stay silent until I burst out. “What??”, he leans down to meet my face, but then drops down. 

He walks away to a small closing of trees. “I can’t read your mind. You have to tell me what you are thinking”, he presses me against a tree, arms on either side of me. 

“I’m a little afraid with you cornering me like this”, he steps back against the other tree to give me space, I follow and stand closer in front of him.

“It is gonna sound cliche, but now I’m afraid of losing you. There’s this weird, random ass connection we have. So don’t disappear or some shit.”, I bite my lip. 

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for you”, he sighs, his eyes looking like they are searching for something deep within me.

Our eyes lock and I feel an electricity run through me as his cold hand caresses my cheek. “So the lion fell in love with the lamb”, I let him ramble whatever weird ass poetic babble he always said. . 

He takes me to this clearing of flowers. It was beautiful. We laid down next to each other, he even laid his jacket down for my hair because I complained about getting something in it. The sun showed through the trees, and he sparkled. 

It would take some time to get use to. But I wouldn’t mind it. 

The next week, Edward picks me up in the morning and takes me to school.

It seemed like time was blurring when we were together. And not just because he would pick me up, and his super agility would make us become a blur of movement, but because time didn’t matter. I was enjoying every minute we were with each other. 

“Are you sure about this?”, he grabs his shades from his pocket.

“I’m as sure as I’ll ever be”, he says getting out. I get out, sighing at how dramatic my boyfriend was. I shake my head realizing that he had asked me and I had happily said yes days ago. 

Everyone’s eyes are on us. Eric looks like his heart is broken. “And I’m going to hell”, he says towards his siblings who look displeased. 

School goes by in a haze. We walk to the forest after, next to a riverbank, and he tells me the story of how Carlisle found him and turned him. And then how he changed Esme, his wife. He explains how blood tastes to them, and how it makes it hard to stop drinking and craving it. 

“OKay.. so did other vampires kill Waylon then? Not some crazy ass animal wolf thing?”, he nods. “Yeah, there’s others out there, that don’t hunt animals and just want humans for sport”, he says looking at the ground. 

“Does the rest of your family read minds?”, he smiles at this. 

“No, just me. Alice, can see the future, but it can change. Her visions are subjective.”

A week after that, he surprises me, jumping on the top of my truck while I wash it. 

“What the hell dude?”, he chuckles at me.

“Act human, I’ve got neighbors who are very white, and very human”, I smirk as he gets down. 

“So I want to have you over my place tomorrow, meet my family”, his face lights up. He easily pulls a dent out of my truck. I frown slightly.

“What if they don’t like me?”, I ask genuinely nervous. His grin becomes playful.

“So you are nervous about them not liking you, but not about being near vampires?”, I shrug. His face changes. 

“Complication, I’ll see you tomorrow.”, he rolls away, but then Billy’s truck comes by and they roll oddly slow next to each other. 

Jacob helps him into his wheelchair, Charlie comes out with beers and they seem excited for whatever game coming on. I’m excited to see Jacob at least and we all hang out in the living room together watching our dads whoop and holler over football. 


	7. You Seriously Wasted Salad Though

The next day is Saturday, and we drive up into the forest. When I see the house, I’m taken aback. “Of course y’all live here, it looks like it costs a million dollars”, he smirks and then in a blur is out of the car, and opens the door for me. 

“No comment, you ready?”, I rub my hands. “Do I have a choice?”, he guides me into the house. I marvel at all the marbling, lovely furniture and random things that looked like they would break. 

We turn a corner and we see a bunch of his family in a kitchen, cooking. They seem to sense our presence immediately and all turn around. A mature woman who looks motherly looks at me with a tender smile. 

“Bella, we are making Italiano for you”, I look up at Edward. Did he not tell them I was black? Did they assume just from my name that I was Italian? It was still a nice gesture nonetheless though. They didn’t even eat food, but were cooking for me. 

“Bella, this is Esme, my mother for all intents and purposes.”, she smiles, Emmett is in the back and waves at me with a goofy smile. Carlisle nods and smiles as well. Rosalie is standing at the counter, looking like she might burst holding a bowl of salad. 

“Oh well Bonjourno”, I say the only Italian I know just to break the ice. “You are giving us an excuse to use our kitchen”, Carlisle says adding something to a pan to cook. “I hope you are hungry”, he adds. 

I lied. “I definitely am”, Edward looks at me and then them. “She already ate”, I look at  him in disbelief. And then I hear a breaking sound as Rosalie breaks the glass bowl. Everyone is silent and I’m confused as to why she was so upset. 

“Perfect.”, she says stepping over the glass and salad. Carlisle and Emmett start to pick up the mess. 

“I mean, I know you guys don’t eat food, but you seriously wasted salad.”, I say looking at Rosalie with irritation painted on my face. Esme nods at me trying to make me feel comfortable. “No, that’s very considerate of you sweetheart”, Edward rubs my back. 

“Just ignore Rosalie, I do”, he smirks and then looks at her. She is fuming at this. “No, yeah. Let’s just keep pretending like this isn’t dangerous for all of us”, Emmett goes to stand next to her. I look at all of them trying to let them know I’m on their side. 

“Whoa, no I would never tell anybody anything. I’m not that kind of person”, I say hoping she calms down. 

Emmett speaks up then. “She knows, but the problem is, you two have gone public now so-”, Rosalie cuts him off. 

“No, she should know. The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly.”, I gulp. 

“Oh so, bad as in, I would get eaten”, they all seem to want to chuckle at this, even Rosalie. Before anyone answers me, Alice and Jasper come from outside on a tree. 

“Hi Bella, I’m Alice. Hi”, she comes up to me and hugs me. I hug her back, not expecting this warm of a welcome from her. 

“Hey to you too”, she pulls back with a cheery smile. “Wow, you do smell good”, Edward gives her a look to back off. “Alice, what are you-”, he starts, but then she cuts him off. 

“It’s okay, Bella and I are gonna be great friends”, she says this matter of factly. If it weren’t for the fact that she could see the future, I was going to feel way more uncomfortable by that statement. 

Carlisle talks, “And this is Jasper, he’s the newest vegetarian. So it’s a little difficult for him”, he explains to me and I understand why he always look like he is in pain. He was trying to keep control and not kill every kid at our school. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you”, he struggles to get out. Alice rubs his shoulder. “You are okay Jasper, you won’t hurt her”. I take comfort in knowing that Alice already has my back. 

Edward looks at them confused and slightly embarrassed. “Okay well, I’m gonna take you on a tour of the rest of the house”. I nod and follow.

We go past a bunch of graduation caps on the stairwell. “It’s  private joke. We matriculate a lot”, we come to the top of the stairs and he leads me to a room. It was filled with vinyl, books, a lounge chair. 

“So you don’t sleep and just don’t have a bed?”, he smirks at me and nods. I check out his music collection. It was filled with tons of things I hadn’t heard before, things I had. 

“Clair De Lune?”, I ask looking at the record that was already in the player. His eyebrows scrunch up. “You know Debussy?”, I shrug. “I know a bit here and there. I just listen to a lot of music”, he comes up to me then, taking my hand in his, the other to my waist. He stays silent as we get closer, and his eyes keep looking at my lips. 

But before I can lean in, he twirls me around. This makes me snort. He was being a gentleman. And showing me a side of him that I hadn’t seen yet. I felt like every day something new was learned between us. 

“What?”, he says looking at me inquisitively. “I just don’t dance much, so I’m kind of awkward with this”, he inhales taking me in. 

“Well I can always make you”, he smirks. “You can try, but I’m not scared of you”, his smirk turns playful at this. 

“Well you really shouldn’t have said that”, and before I can respond, he has me on his back and bounds out of the opened glass door in his room to hop on the side of a tree. 

“You better hold on, spider monkey”, now if he had been any other person, I might have taken offense to being called a monkey, but given context that he just wanted me to hold on to him, it was fairly cute. 

He tells me to shut my eyes, but being the hardheaded person I am, I keep my eyes open, watching as he gracefully climbs this tree with me on his back. 

Once we get to the top, he asks if I trust him. “In theory”, I say and he chuckles, jumping to another tree, and then climbing the top of another large tree. We finally make it to the top. He shadows me as we stand together, taking in the view, I rest myself against a sturdy branch, and it feels like we talk for hours. 

We head back inside, he begins to play a song that apparently he made for me. I was a teenage girl of 17, I was impressed. I was slightly turned on. 

Days pass after this. I pull up to the diner, to meet Charlie for lunch. I see a couple of the high school guys playing around, and then I see Mike. When I get out, he greets me. 

“Hey Bella, so uh you and Cullen huh? I don’t like it. He kind of looks at you like you ”, he shakes his head, with a disappointed smile. I nod my head and walk past him. I could care less about his hurt feelings. 

I sit down next to Charlie, kissing him on the cheek. “Sorry I’m late, Biology project”, he shakes his head. “Nah it’s fine, I ordered you a spinach salad, hope that’s okay”, I smirk just as the food comes to our table. 

“Should have ordered one for yourself, cut back from the beef you always eat”, our funny moment is cut short as the waitress talks to him.

“Everyone wants to know, did you find anything by the river today?”, a lot of men and women look his way. He sighs meeting their eyes. 

“We found a bare human foot, but it looks like whoever it was headed east. So Kitsap County sheriff is gonna take over from here”, she and everyone else take in this information. 

It hurt that I couldn’t just tell Charlie what was really going on. He’d send me back to Renee so quickly thinking that something was wrong with me. I’d have to talk to Edward about if he or his family could do anything about these killings. 

“Looks like your friends are flagging you”, Charlie says looking at Mike doing some sort of weird dance on a bush. I laugh looking at him and then eat a fry off of his plate. “It’s okay if you wanna go join them”, he says sarcastically. 

“I’m just gonna turn in early anyways”, I agree with him on that and he gives me a concerned look. “No, it’s Friday night, go out. Plus it looks like that Newton boy has a big smile for you”, I shake my head at him. “I mean he’s a good friend, a bud, a pal”, Charlie sighs cutting up his steak. 

“Well what about any other of these yahoos in town?”, he looks at his plate and then to me, clearly not wanting to talk about boys but wanting to know just enough. “Are we really gonna talk about boys?”, he chuckles. 

“We don’t have to, but I feel like I leave you alone a lot. I just want to make sure you are around some people.”, he gives me a genuine look. 

“I know, and I love you for that. But I don’t mind being  alone sometimes. I’m kind of like you with that”, he squeezes my shoulder. 

Later that night, I’m on the phone with my mom, catching her up. She asks me about boys, and before I can get to Edward, Edward himself whooshes into my room. 

“Uhh mom, I gotta go. Love you”, I say watching Edward as he smirks. “Did she just ask if you were being safe? Using protection?”, I shake my head at him as he slides over onto my bed from the window. 

“What are you doing here?”, I ask sitting next to him. “Well I just jumped up here really.”, he says nonchalantly. I look at him confused. “Do you do that a lot?”, he shrugs slightly. 

“Just the past couple of months. I like watching you sleep. It’s kind of fascinating to me”, I slap his arm at this. “Okay we may be dating, but that’s a little creepy because this is the first time I’ve seen you do that, you are lucky you are cute”, he gives me his charming smile, leaning closer to me. 

“But I just want to try one thing- stay still, don’t move”, he leans closer to my lips, reminding me to stay still. Our lips finally meet, and I feel my body react, needing more. We had never kissed, but it was like a fire was burning inside of me. 

I test my luck and run my fingers through his hair, softer than ever. I feel his hands grab me around the waist and a tingle runs down my spine as he gets on top of me, between my legs. I hadn’t had sex yet, but I was ready for him. But before he was even on me for 5 seconds, he bolts back and hits the back wall. 

“I’m stronger than I thought”, he says breathing heavily. “I mean I’m not, I wanted it...but if that was too much, we can just talk.”, I suggest and I see him physically relax. He sits on the side of my bed. 

“I would never hurt you”, he says with a pain in his eyes. “I know, so just chill out okay?”, he scoots closer on the bed. 

We talk for hours after this, and he gradually gets closer to me until we lay together. I end up falling asleep on his chest and he plays with my hair. I was falling for this pale guy. 


	8. You Want Me To Do What Again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the last chapter for The Only Way. I've already started on my reimagining of New Moon. I'm having fun with this, and I hope whoever reading this is as well. Feedback means the world to me, so feel free to leave a comment. I read every single one. Thanks for leaving kudos and I hope you read the next in the series. xoxo- Chyna

The next day, I get ready to hang out with Edward’s family. I take a deep breath, getting my mind right to tell Charlie where I’d be. “Hey dad, me and Edward are going to play baseball with his family”, he sits at the table, fixing up his shotgun. 

He turns back to me, eyebrow raised. “Since when was this a..uh thing?”, he clears his throat before taking a sip of his beer. I can only smirk. 

“I like him, and he’s outside waiting, he wants to come in and tell you himself”, he rolls his eyes playfully. He cocks his shotgun, sets it on the table. “Okay well, bring him in then, get this show on a roll”, I go back to the front door, letting Edward in. 

“Hello Mr. Swan, I thought today would be a good day to invite Bella out to play with my family.”, he shakes Charlie’s hand. 

Charlie winces, he mutters about good grip before looking him square in the eyes. “Well I expect her home in one piece, and I suppose you two have fun”, he says dismissing us. 

Once I get in the truck, I ask Edward what Charlie was thinking. He smirks. “He isn’t worried, but he cares because you are his daughter and I’m the first guy you’ve brought home so he is...cautious.”, he tells me. 

It made me feel good to know that Charlie wasn’t one of those dads. Overprotective in a gross kind of way. He cared, and that’s what I needed in what seemed to be the most odd year of my life. 

We pull up to an open clearing, all of his family having fun. “This should be fun”, I put on the baseball cap Edward gave me once we got in the car and head out to where all of his family is. 

The teams are chosen and it’s pure entertainment for me. Forget Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Grey’s Anatomy, this was my new favorite thing to watch. White vampires playing America’s pass time sport. 

They were lightening fast, hitting the ball with a deafening crack, but always in time with the sound of actual thunder as it was another stormy day for Forks. Which was smart, their unnatural strength created an unnatural sound when they struck with the bat. 

And it was all fun and games until Alice had a vision. I tried asking Edward what was going on, but he only shielded me and told me to zip up my jacket. All of his family was freaking out. “Another group of vampires is here, they heard us, just...don’t draw attention to yourself”, he says adjusting my hair and hat. “Are they not like you guys?”, he simply shakes his head. 

Before I can ask anything else, three vampires emerge from the treeline. Their eyes are blood red, they seem to be free spirits. From their clothes, to unkept hair. I thought the black one was just really ashy, but he was just very pale. 

When they got close enough, Carlisle spoke to them first. It was going fine, they even offered to join on the game as it seemed we were having fun. He told them that some of us, aka me and Edward were leaving. 

But then mother nature seemed to laugh in our face. A strong breeze rolled in and I felt my natural hair shift. Everyone froze. Then the blonde muscular one, James turned around. “You brought a snack?”, all of the Cullen family tensed. 

I wanted to clarify that he didn’t mean snack in a good way, but that he literally wanted to kill me. He definitely didn’t say issa snack, but that a singular snack, meant to be drained of blood was here and it was me. The little black girl who somehow always found herself in some form of trouble these past couple of months in Forks. 

“The girl is with us and to not be touched”, Carlisle told them. Laurent, the pale black one, who seemed to be the leader of their group, held back James and gave the redhead Victoria a look. 

“We will go then”, he said as they started to back away. 

Things moved at a break neck speed after they left. Edward was taking me home. He practically tried buckling my seatbelt for me. “I’m a grown as woman, I got it”, he closes my door and is in the driver’s seat immediately. 

“What the fuck is going on?”, I ask him as his face seems to be going through every emotion. 

“James, he’s a hunter. He loves taunting and killing humans”, he says with his voice breaking. I look at him in confusion. 

“Okay so the dude is a psycho, got it, why is everyone freaking the hell out and shit?”, I catch a car behind us. Edward notices that I do. 

“That’s Emmett and Jasper behind us. James wants to kill you, and he won’t stop until he has you”, my heart sinks realizing the weight of his words. 

“Okay, you guys can get him right?”, he doesn’t meet my eyes as we pull up to my house. Charlie’s car was outside. 

“No, and Charlie won’t be safe either. We can’t have you safe with me because he would have questions. And then the entire town, and then the entire world. We have to leave or he will find your scent, kill you and then Charlie”, he tells me looking me in the eyes. 

“What the fuck am I supposed to tell him then?”, and then he tells me quickly to lie and that he’d meet me upstairs to pack. 

I do my best to bring tears to my eyes. Charlie is alarmed when I storm into the house. “What’s up Bells? What happened?”, I tell him I can’t be here. I tell him that I ended things with Edward and that I need space. 

I see the confusion on his face build. “Okay well just think about this a second”, he says. I tell him that if I stayed, I’d end up like mom. This hurts him. And it hurts me seeing that I have hurt him. He follows me upstairs as I pack. 

I’m trying to hold it together as I pack, just as I feel myself about to break, Edward is by my side supporting my body, packing for me. 

I tell Charlie goodbye. When I get back into the car with Edward, he holds me as he drives back to his house. My sobs rake my body. 

I manage to pull it together once we arrive, Carlisle detailing the plan of action. I was to head to Arizona, wait until the family tracked James and killed him. Laurent even came to warn us about his girlfriend Victoria. 

“Okay let me get this right...you want me to do what again?”, I ask in disbelief. Alice and Jasper were going to stay with me at a hotel until they got him. 

Rosalie threw a fit before we left. “I’m sorry truly, that you aren’t human, but this is what’s going on, your brother loves me. Get with the program or just go, damn”, I say my anger and frustration boiling to a head. Emmett takes her away before she can respond. 

And with that, we left. Charlie called, and so I called him late at night, hoping he wouldn’t pick up to leave a voicemail, reassuring him that I was okay. 

During the day, Jasper and Alice watched me like a rock. Never leaving my side unless I used the restroom. While we waited to check in at our hotel, Jasper went around to make sure it was safe of any vampires. Alice was at the front desk checking us in, trying to get a better suite. 

My phone began to ring, it was coming from my mom. I sighed, figuring that I may as well answer. When I answer it though, my heart drops. “Bella where are you? Are you okay?”, and then it cuts. “It was so easy finding your information. Your mother is very worried about you. I’d get to the gym your volleyball team practiced at by 3 if I were you and wanted to see her alive”, it was James. He hung up. 

Alice and Jasper would never leave me alone, let alone let me go alone. I didn’t spot Jasper, but I tell Alice that I’m going to the restroom. I head in the direction of the restroom, but then make a beeline for the exit. Once outside, I get in a cab that is just about to leave. 

I tell them where to go and I feel like I was in another fucked up situation. Did I just attract danger? If I died today, history books better celebrate this black woman. I was going to save my mom. 

When I get there, I don’t see any cars parked out front or in back. I head inside and it’s dark, but then I hear my mom’s voice, picking up my speed. But then I stop, realizing I should have my pepperspray open and my pocket knife in my back pocket. 

I hear her behind a door, but then when I open it, it’s just an old family video. Fuck, he was probably right behind me. Like god damn horror movies he was gonna-

“It was so easy to find this tape, make you think she was here”, he starts off on the other side of the gym. I close the door, turning to face him. 

“I’ll give you that. That’s pretty smart”, I say trying to keep cool in the face of James. He smirked. 

“But I’m very impressed you got away to meet me here. I wonder what your sweet little Edward will think when he finds your lifeless body”, he swoops in front of me, face pressed against mine. 

“You are gonna taste so good, better than you smell too I hope”, I scrunch up my nose, hands behind my back, in my back pockets. 

“Yeah well you’re fucking breath stinks!”, I say just as I whip out my pepperspray, spraying James in the eyes and then stabbing him in the neck with my pocketknife once, and then trying to take another stab, only for him to back hand me into a support beam. 

I feel my head hit the ground, and then I feel the warm blood start to trickle down on the side of my head. This wasn’t going good, and fast. I try to get up, but my vision is too blurry and I slide back down against the beam. 

“You think you are pretty nifty huh?”, he says as he takes out the knife, I watch as his neck heals and groan. Partly from pain, partly from irritation that this was how it all would end. 

“Well I was going to make your death quick and painless, but now I’m going to play with my food”, he says and leans down to me. Before I can do anything, he stabs me in the leg, and then stands on it. I yell out in pain. 

James takes out a camera. “Now tell Edward that you died yelling, in pain, dying to-”, and in a blur Edward comes out of nowhere, pushing James into the volleyball net. 

They are tussling, fighting at a speed I’m not use to. Just when I think that Edward has the upper hand, James hit him in the head, and I hear a crackling come from Edward’s head. 

My vision is getting worse as I lose more blood from my leg and head. But then with an incapacitated Edward, James comes up to me, grabs my hand and then bites it. 

I begin to feel the worst pain imaginable as my body feels like it’s paralyzed. Edward grabs James out of nowhere, and then I hear Emmett and Jasper come in. 

This was it. It was the end. My vision was blurry, I was hot and cold. My hand was on fire it felt like, and my body felt like it was burning from the inside out. 

Edward comes into my sight then, he is holding my hand, yelling at someone, Carlisle maybe. I saw blonde, I knew it wasn’t Rosalie, she hated me. 

And then I felt his mouth go onto my hand. And the burning started to cease. And then it was gone, but then I felt my body slipping away. Slowly, and then all at once. 


	9. I've Almost Died, You Have No Choice But to Marry Me One Day

I wake up first to Carlisle, he informs me that I was definitely alive. That my parents were on the way. And then him and Edward told me the lie I’d have to stick with to keep up the secret of their being vampires. 

I came to Phoenix, was clumsy enough to trip down the stairs. Edward wanted to make amends, and came to me, but found out I was in the hospital and stayed by my side, even paying for my hospital bills. 

When I wake up again, Renee is there. I tell her the story, and she sighs. She believes it, and then she looks at Edward and mouths the word hot. I chuckle, looking at him to see he peeks his eye open. I tell her that he’s a keeper. 

When Charlie comes, I apologize. He’s still hurt, and he forgives me, but he grounds me for a month. I mean I’d rather be grounded than dead, so I bring him in for a hug, and he gladly accepts it. He thinks I don’t see it, but he wipes a tear from his eye. 

Once they’ve all left, Edward and me are finally alone. He caresses my right hand, the one James bit me. His brows are furrowed in frustration. 

“If I tell you that I love you, will you stop being all doom and gloom?”, he looks up at me when I say this. He brings my hand up to kiss it. 

“I love you too, but if it weren’t for me… you’d be fine. You wouldn’t have a cast, or this mark. You’d be living your normal life. I’ll forever be sorry for that Bella”, he caresses my hand and I squeeze his. 

“Well luckily I’m still here. And we are still here”, he relaxes for a while. He lets me fall asleep. 

Weeks pass and school was fine. I remember the first day I went back, everyone wanted to know if I was okay. And Charlie was keeping an eye on me. I was allowed to go out to Jacob’s house, which even led to him finally installing a radio and an aux so I could play my own music. And I could only go to school, the Black’s house, and then back home.

I wasn’t complaining though because it was fun to be around Jake without the added worry that he was trying to impress me. He was becoming my bestfriend, and he held me accountable for my shit. Being around Jake was like being able to be free.

I was free to be myself. We were both two people of color, surrounded by a town of predominantly white kids. We had a lot to relate with each other, but still plenty to learn about the other’s culture. He told me stories of his family’s tribe and traditions they still did. I opened up to him about how I felt being adopted and how it contributed to my view of America’s race relations as how. 

It was fair, my dad was feeling sketchy about Edward. I was just glad that Edward would sneak in my bedroom during the day and night. He moved so quietly that Charlie never knew when he was in the house. 

Formal dance came and when I walk down the stairs, in my cast for my leg nonetheless, Edward beams and calls me beautiful. Charlie gives me a glare. Before we leave, Charlie stops Edward. 

“I expect her home no later than 10”, he shakes Charlie’s hand and reassures him that he’ll have me in by 9:45. 

Before we go inside Edward stops and tenses slightly “Looks like someone came to see you” he nods towards the treeline. Jacob comes out of nowhere, in a button shirt and tie. “Well aren’t you looking dapper?”, he meets me half way, helping me sit on a nearby bench with my cast. And he looked like he had a sizeable growth spurt? What was he now? 6’0’’?

He flashes a toothy grin taking my attire in. “If anyone looks out of place, it’s you”, I mush him in the head. He looks from me and then to Edward, his look becoming serious. 

“See something you like?” I ask poking fun at the girls gawking at him as they walked by us. 

He shakes his head. “Yeah, but she’s taken”, he looks down, a glimmer of something passes his eyes but he goes back to his resting face. 

“But anyways, my dad wanted me to tell you that he thinks you and Edward should break up, that ‘we’ will be watching”, he looks at me and I burst into laughter. 

“Oh my god, I’m sorry to laugh but that’s dark. I hope he’s giving you something in return for this weird warning. Is he still superstitious?”, I shake my head, wiping tears from my eyes from laughing so hard. 

Jake adjusts his ponytail, smiling genuinely. “Yeah he is finally giving me that cylinder for my car. But yeah, it’s ridiculous. But you look beautiful, even with this dopey cast”, he helps me up and Edward is by my side before I even know it. 

They share a look and I wave goodbye to Jake before me and Edward make our way to the main entrance.

We take pictures near the front entrance, sporting my best goofy faces with Edward mocking my expressions. He was letting loose, but I could feel like he was holding back. 

I dance the night away with my friends, excited to see that Eric and Angela finally getting together, and Jessica and Mike together really made me happy as Mike hadn’t ruined that yet. I’m glad to see they got the big picture that I hadn’t been interested in them, especially not with my friends interested in them. 

The night comes to a head, as slower music begins to play. I find myself out in the gazebo, alone with Edward. A sweet, love song begins to play and we sway slowly to it. 

“Are you having fun, dancing with me?”, he asks with a smirk. I look up at him, curiosity filling me.  
“You could have let the venom spread, like we could be vampiring it up right now”, I say looking at him confused. 

“I saved you to keep you away from becoming a monster like me”, he says sternly. Shaking my head I feel like he’s belittling me. 

“If you turned me, I could protect myself. You wouldn’t have to do it all the time. I want you, always”, I sigh with my last words. He leans closer to me. 

“I’m not going to end your life”, he says kissing my cheek. I roll my eyes. 

“I am dying, I’m getting older. This is the only way”, I say trying to convince him. I see his lip quirk up. “That’s how it’s suppose to be”, he says calmly. 

“I’ve almost died, you have no choice but to marry me now. Make me one of you, I’ve decided that I want to be like you. Don’t Alice’s visions changed based on that? Tell her my decision”, he smirks. 

He looks me in the eyes, a glint of something mysterious there. “Oh, you’ve decided then? You want this life, with me?”, he leans me back, face dangerously close to my neck. 

I close my eyes in anticipation. This was it. I was going to be a badass black vampire. Forget Blade, I was Bella. I was going to- 

My thoughts of what my new life would be like get cut off as I feel him kiss my neck and then look me in the eyes, supporting my body with one hand. 

“Is it so hard just to have a long and happy life with me?”, he says this, leaning me back up to stand upright looking each other in the eyes. 

I was slightly irritated, but I couldn’t deny how smoothly he went about it. He didn’t say no, but he didn’t say yes. I get that I was asking a lot, but I knew that he knew I wasn’t completely wrong here. 

“Yes it is hard. You know why.”, I lean my head on his shoulder. But before I can get comfortable, he leans back to look at me again, love in his eyes. 

He leans into me slowly, and then his cool lips are on mine. My mind relaxes as our lips connect. His hand behind my neck as we share this passionate kiss. 

We dance the night away, until I have to go home at least. The past couple of months had been a whirlwind, but they were worth it. I grew as a young woman, and I was figuring out that I could stand on my own feet against an actual vampire. And that I was in love with a vampire. That he loved me too. Who knew what was next in store for us.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't delved into the Twilight fandom in years, but I've been dying to read a really good one for a while now, so I decided to write one instead. I'm a type a chapter up after the other kind of gal. Bella is black, everything else is essentially the same. Bella is a sort of how would I react to all these vampires and supernatural things around me projection. So if anything, it's a re-imagining of the series. So hold on tight, leave comments, tell me what ya like/don't like. Just tell me something :) xoxo- Chyna


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